Triple murder: Crews draining retention pond for evidence search

Orange County Public Works officials still are working to drain a retention pond near the site of a shooting that killed three homeless people last week.

Richard Button, 65, Todd Lemme, 57, and Deborah Watson, 54, were found shot to death in a shack in woods near the pond in the east Orange County neighborhood about 9 a.m. March 18. Investigators said the three lived there.

Melinda Clifft, Lemme's niece, said detectives are draining the pond to look for a gun or any evidence that could lead them to an arrest.

"They're definitely looking for a weapon that was used in the murder, but that's all we know at this time," Clifft said. "They are still looking for Leonard Lewis at this time. That's all we really know."

Lewis has been identified as a "person of interest" in the case.

Watson's son, Dan Watson, has referred to Lewis as his mother's ex-boyfriend.

No arrests have been made.

The draining is a request of the Orange County Sheriff's Homicide Unit, who will search the pond for evidence, Sheriff's spokeswoman Jane Watrel said Thursday.